RAK Survey: What do you wish you knew how to do?

Here’s a super-quick one-question survey for Tuesday! And a giveaway!  

Is there a specific Photoshop technique that continues to elude you? Do you wish you were better at photo editing? At type and journaling well on your layouts? At creating your own digital/hybrid embellishments? At mixing paper and digital? At printing on specific items, such as canvas, vellum, transparency, or ribbon? At using your printer in general? At hybrid mini-albums? At using some of the cool hybrid products out there like water-slide decals and printable rub-ons?

What do you wish you knew how to do in Photoshop?

and

What do you wish you knew how to do on your computer that relates to scrapbooking?

This could include using Word, or digital organization, or page layout, font download/install/management, brush management, etc.

Let me hear it! :D Be as specific as you can, ok? Don’t worry about long-windedness or being too list-y. I love lists!

Also, if you’d like to let me know whether you consider yourself:

• Beginner digi (meaning ALL digi, except maybe mini-albums)
  
• Intermediate digi
• Advanced digi
• Beginner hybrid (meaning you make some blend of computer tricks on your paper pages, or paper and digi pages)
  
• Intermediate hybrid
• Advanced hybrid

That would be great! :D (I know, that makes the survey two questions long… sorry) 

RAK! 

And just to make this little survey worth answering, I’ve got two copies of my BRAND NEW BOOK, Computer Tricks 2 to give away to two random lucky winners!

Post to this thread before 6 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb 21 for a chance to win. :) Tell your friends as well! I am interested in hearing from newbies and oldsters alike on your Photoshop challenges. :)

Update on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 01:59PM by Jessica

Lots of comments pouring in! Post away! Don’t be shy! This is your chance to be heard, and I can help. :)

And for those of you wondering - yes! I will read EVERY ONE. I’ll even print them out. Maybe I’ll even snuggle them. So post! Get your questions out there. :D 

Update on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 11:19PM by Jessica

I love you guys. You’re laying it out there bigtime, asking tough questions. Asking real questions. Jared and I are wondering how we capture and parse this data. Yes, that is how geeks spend a romantical evening at home. Figuring out how to capture and parse YOUR data, friends! Bring it on! We’ve got candles lit and everything. You have until Thursday, 6 pm EST.

Comments

[Heather]

I consider myself an intermediate level digital scrapper as well as an intermediate paper scrapper. Not much hybrid yet, so I would love to learn more about incorporating both. I would love to continue to learn advanced photo editing techniques to maximize my use of CS3. Some of the things taught in "Now we're Rockin" were exactly what I wanted and I would love to have more of those advanced techniques. I found myself going into tools that I had never used before and I want more :). I would also love more digital album templates for those times when I just want to slap some pictures in of an event for some quick and easy gift albums.

[Lynn Herrick]

Jessica,
Your question is so timely. We spent three lovely hours at a vineyard with my children this weekend -a vineyard is not normally somewhere you would take 6 year old twins and a 4 year old, but it was fantastic. There were other kids there and they played in the sun, running up and down the vineyard for hours. My husband and I tasted wine and relaxed. I also took a ton of pictures with my new Canon Rebel XTi that my husband bought me for the holidays. I came home and downloaded the pictures into Photoshop and then thought I could start editing - instead, it was the most frustrating thing ever!! I was almost crying because I could not do anything I wanted to do. Nothing was working. I was looking for help online and your blog, but it was hopeless. I am a beginner on Photoshop and I need to know how to edit photos. Of course, I want to make beautiful hybrid layouts (I took your class at CKU so I have 2 beautiful hybrid layouts), but I have to be realistic and start with photo editing. I plan to take your beginning online class - will I learn some basics? I think there are a lot of us out here that are overwhelmed by Photoshop and just can't get started. Thanks.
Lynn

[Carolyn M]

I have PSE5 and CS3, and have had the for almost a year. I just can't figure how to use it to a fuller potential I can do some manipulation of elements and apply some styles, but I think I am just playing around. I would love to learn more . I would be thrilled with your book. Thank you for the opportunity to win it.


Hugs,
Carolyn M

[Jayne Hickey]

Hi Jessica,
I am new to combining digi and traditional paper together. I love the neat tricks I see people doing and feel like I basically have EVERYTHING to learn. I think that no matter what you put on your blog, I always learn something new that is truly useful to me. I am new to Photoshop and am trying to figure out what all those little symbols actually do! I've experimented with some neat ways to turn some okay shots into better looking prints but nothing like I envision in my head. I know the look I'm hoping to capture when I see a great photo op but somehow between average camera and average printer and lack of experience with digi scrapbooking, the end result just isn't what I hoped for. sigh...
BUT the good news is, I am tuned in here to your blog, and I'm learning. Yes, patience is not one of my strengths but in time I trust I will learn the techniques I need to be happy with the outcome.
I'd love to learn more about transfering titles and embellishments to my paper goods.
Thank you for asking us to share our struggles, I'm sure I'm not the only one just getting started.

Jayne
www.wickedbusymomto3.wordpress.com

[K Lim]

I love your 1st book on Computer Tricks.It's what got me started on Digital Scrapbooking.I guess I'm somewhat an Intermediate Digit Scrapbooker and still learning. I want to be able to make my own embellishments to use - like ribbons, glittered items, pins, etc and start designing my own papers.I've done some simple ones and see the ideas in my head but find it difficult to get going.Besides this, I wish I have more memory bank in my head to remember everything I've learnt from Scott Kelby's book on Digital Photography with PSE.I keep having to refer back to the book which slows me down.:-)

[JKidd]

clarification - I would love to create digital papers and elements - I can create the pages with everyone elses designs.

[Mollie]

I'd love to learn simple techniques to make collages...an easy way to make them and have them look good. Straight lines, evenly spaced photoblocks, etc.

I use PSE5 and would say I am probably an intermediate hybrid scrapbooker. Thanks and have a fabulous day!

[Christine]

I think I am an intermediate digi and a beginner hybrid. I haven't quite figured out how to blend the two well. Something I would like to learn more is filters or techniques to make my pictures interesting, like the Orion technique. That was a cool challenge. I would also like to learn more about saving to web and what kind of files are best for printing and such.

[Shelly Kettell]

Jessica,
I'm brand new to all of it! BEGINNER BEGINNER! I have been watching you and your blog and waiting for the right time to sign up for a class. I can't wait to learn. I have photoshop and go in and can't do hardly anything...can you say "read the help tutorial" but I would prefer a book that I can reference.
I would just love to be able to mix digi scrapbooking with my hands on creative scrapbooking!

Also, I'm glad you're on the road to feeling better!

[Astrid]

I would like to know more about photoediting. I'm a beginner digiscrapper.

[Lan]

Love your first computer tricks book! I'm sure the second would be awesome too.

I would love to learn how to enhance eyes to bring out the catchlights in them, how to make a grunge looking frame around photos, and how to create actions in PSE5.0

thanks!

[fivesourlimit]

I haven't ordered your book...yet!!!
I wish I could use the gradient tool better in PSE5. I can't seem to consistently get it to work, if it does work, I'm not sure what I did to make it work!
As far as the computer goes, I really don't like the PSE5 organizer and after I've deleted items they seem to still show up only with a little red box with a slash through them and the file is not found. How do I get rid of things once and for all out of the organizer?
I consider myself an intermediate digiscrapper. But after NWR I realize the posibilities are endless in Photoshop so I am just beginning to dig in!

[Jill]

I would consider myself an established beginner :) in both digital and hybrid.

I would like to know how to make printed paper with the pretty patterns on it and different textured backgrounds. I would also like to have a better understanding of brushes.

Your first Computer Tricks issue has taught me so much, as well as some of your tutorials I have done. You have a great way of clearly explaining things, thanks so much!

Jill

[cathy]

i'd love to know how to use brushes and put digi frames around a photo. every time i put a frame around a photo, it zooms in on the photo! i'd love to know what i'm doing wrong! HELP! i'm a beginner...i've never done a digi layout!

[Karen]

I need help in editing photos in PS5. I'm a crummy photo taker (which could be the problem!). I'm new to this digi scrapbooking but love what I've learned so far. I have completed 2 of your self-paced lessons. And waiting to sign up next week for your beginner class. You make learning fun for this Grandma!
Thanks, Karen

[Heather]

I am a beginner digi scrapper. I've been doing it for about a year now but with small kids I just can't seem to find the time to sharpen my skills. The one thing that eludes me to no end is brushes!! I hear all these great things about brushes and how neat they are to use and I just can't seem to figure them out!!

[redheadmomma]

Hi Jessica! Can't wait for your new book!

I'm a graphic designer so I've been using photoshop since '93 - whew! so I guess I'd call myself an advanced Digi. What I could always use help on is a series of lessons on photo retouching - everything from head to toe!

Thanks!!

[Sarah Watson]

I just took your Now We're Rockin course so I'm much more confident than I was. I'll love to be able to do more artist stuff with filters and the like. I see some beautiful LO's and I just think 'How's they do that'

[Stacey]

As a beginner with digital, I would love to know the basics and build from there. I think editing my photos to make them look more professional would be the hgihlight for me!

[Laser]

I wish I new how to co-ordinate all the elements on a layout. I need to learn more about colors and what shapes etc go with what.

I would like to learn more about actions in Photoshop - how to use them and how to make my own.

[Barbara(seniorgal)]

I have been doing only digital with PSE5 for 1 yr.

I need help with blending(papers)(photos)

Journaling in limited space

font management

brush use

[Lisa]

Hi Jessica
I love your "computer tricks for scrapbooking" and am looking forward to seeing your newest book.
I'm a fairly new digital scrapbooker and would love to learn more. I doubt I will ever give up tradional paper but some projects I would be very happy to go digital with.
I would like to know how to adjust pet eye in photoshop 5 and how to make my own brushes.
If I could get more proficient at the digital, I will probably become more of a hybrid.
We will be moving and alot of my scrapbooking supplies will be going into storage. I will have my computer so I could still scrapbook digitally. I guess that means your new book would come in very handy!!!
Lisa

[susan m]

I think I would like to learn how to better adjust the color on my photos and how to make a transparency would be a plus.

[Tina]

I"m a beginner hybrid scrapper. Would like to learn how to add color to a black and white photo which I think should be easy to do, but haven't learned yet. It's such a classic technique! thanks.

[Flor]

I use CS3. I would love to learn more about paths and the pen tool. I am waiting for your advanced photoshop class.

[Terry B.]

I am so new to digi and there is so much I don't know. I'd really really like to learn more about cutting paper/templates/etc. from 12 x 12 to 8.5 x 11. I'm interested in learning more about overlays, changing the color of elements, using masks, storage devices, downloading and using fonts from different websites, using the ruler grids to have things equally spaced and sized, using the hue/saturation features---the list could go on and on.

[Pamla]

I would like to learn how to make paper and elements and templates so I had my own originals. I'm a painter (artist) by trade and use most of my own photographic reference.
I consider myself intermediate level and am looking forward to the 3rd in your series of upcoming photoshop classes. You have really kept me motivated.

[Brooke]

First let me say that I LOVED your first Computer Tricks book. I've gotten so frustrated with "idea books" recently because they all seem to have the same thing, over and over again. I glanced through your book and LOVED it - bought it, and it has notes all over it. I love how it gives you the steps, and I go through the tutorials with my own photos to learn new things. I have sold several of my friends on it too - it's awesome, and I can't wait to get my second one!

I'm probably intermediate hybrid, I think, although some might say advanced.

I want to learn more about actions. I've read about them but don't really understand what they do - are they just macros created by people who know more than I do? Why do I want them? Can't I do the same steps myself?

I also want to just get more ideas in general about ways to incorporate Photoshop into my scrapbooking, without creating digital pages. I've put journaling onto my pictures which I really like, and I've done other things with just editing the pictures. But how else can it be used - I'm sure I'm missing out on tons of possibilities!

I also want to become better at photo editing in general. I've learned lots of tricks to clean up photos, some that are pretty impressive if I do say so myself! ;) But I would like to learn the things that make pictures really stand out!

Thanks Jessica!

~Brooke
brookesummer@gmail.com
http://brookesummer.blogspot.com

[Diane M.]

I'm an intermediate hybrid scrapper. I've been using Photoshop Elements 4 and recently purchased Elements 6. I would like to learn more about facial photo retouching and how to achieve realistic skin tones, or adjustments to skin tone when lighting was too bright. I'm also interested in learning how to achieve a realistic looking depth of field through Guassian Blur.

Jessica, I loved your first digi book and learned so much from it about Photoshop Elements -- couldn't have done it without ya. Can't wait to get my hands on your 2nd books!

[G. De Villa]

Hi Jessica!

I have your first book and loved every tutorial. However, I would like to know more about PSE 6 and how I can make my own embellishments using my scanner and printer.

I am a beginner hybrid and all the tricks I know are the ones in your first book...tee...hee...hee..
I have done some pages all digi but I use it more to enhance or change the "mood" in my photos.

Also, I would like to know more about actions.